The latest patch notes have appeared for the Patch 6.1 PTR. Do note that these don't necessarily line up with datamining. We have new info on buffs and nerfs for Feral, Windwalker, and more! Check out the classes tab below.

Blizzard QA Zorbrix has also noted that, as the Patch 6.1 PTR builds are release candidates, character copies are disabled:

Level 90-94 gold and Garrison Resource missions will now continue to appear even if there are no Followers that are level 90-94.

Barn Level 3 traps can now be placed on top of a trap that has already been sprung.

The fireplace in Tier-2 and Tier-3 Alliance Garrison Town Halls can now be used as a cooking fire.

Improvements have been made to the way that cosmetic transformations are handled. Previously, using another transformation would overwrite or cancel an existing effect. Now, characters can retain multiple cosmetic transformations and the one with the highest priority will be visible. If a higher priority transformation is canceled or expires, the next highest priority transformation will then be visible.

Cosmetic transformation effects that don't have mount animations and previously prevented a character from mounting (or were canceled upon mounting) are no longer canceled or need to be canceled or prevent mounting. Instead, the transform is temporarily suppressed and the character will regain the transformation once they dismount.

Many Druid shapeshift forms now have attachment points on the head and back for cosmetic toy effects such as Blazing Wings or Pepe. Additional shapeshift forms may receive attachment points in the future.

Blazing Wings effect now lasts for 15 minutes (down from 1 hour) with a 30-minute cooldown (down from 1 hour).

Piccolo of the Flaming Fire has been rebuilt into a Toy Box item. Players can channel for 30 seconds to cause those around them to dance with a 5-minute cooldown. Additionally, the effect will no longer interrupt eating or drinking.

All rings, neck, cloak, and trinket items that can be acquired in Nagrand (A level 98+ zone) or later should now be better suited for the character's loot specialization. This means tanks should no longer receive items with no bonus Armor and healers should no longer receive items with no Spirit from sources like item tokens, quests, or Personal loot mode in Dungeons and Raids for those item slots.

Accounts with an inactive subscription are now able to log in with the same restrictions that Starter Edition accounts have with the additional perk of being able to join guilds that characters on the account already are a member of.

New Graphics Options: Particle Density in graphics settings now have 3 detail levels (down from 5). This may affect the number of particles generated by some particle systems.

Halo now displays an indicator on the ground to make it easier for the casting Priest see where the ability is most effective. Additionally, Halo's visual effect has been synchronized so a character will receive the effect when the nova intersects with them.

Psychic Scream (Shadow) now has a 30-second cooldown (up from 45 seconds).

Frozen Power should no longer cause Frost Shock to trigger a new Mastery: Molten Earth (Elemental). Note that this does not stop Molten Earth effects that are already in progress or in the process of being triggered.

One of five new visitors may visit each day offering a quest to anyone that visits the Garrison.

Defeat a dungeon boss: Awards a bag with a chance to contain a level 630, 645, or 655 item token.

Defeat a raid boss (weekly quest): Awards a bag with a chance to contain a level 645, or 655 item token.

Bounty (intended for 3 or more players): Defeat a named elite NPC for a bag containing Apexis Crystals, and a chance to contain a level 645, or 655 item token.

Relic: Complete a series of quests to recover a relic for a bag containing Apexis Crystals, and a chance to contain a level 645, or 655 item token. Completing a relic mission unlocks it as a potential mission for your followers. Completing all 6 relic missions will unlock Harrison Jones as a follower!

Profession: Turn-in tradeskill reagents for Primal Spirits and work order tradeskill reagents.

Treasure Hunter trait increases the amount of gold rewarded from a mission.

Garrison Followers

Garrison Followers may now be upgraded to item level 675.

Follower Missions

New Profession Missions are now available on upgrading a profession building to level 3. Successfully completing these missions award an item that allows instant completion of work orders (Rush Orders).

Players can unlock Relic and Bounty missions for their followers by completing the corresponding Relic or Bounty quest offered by one of the random daily new visitors to the Garrison.

New exploration missions are available to players with a skill of at least 1 in Archeology. Successfully completing these missions can award Archeology fragments, keystones, or treasure maps for a Draenor zone. Treasure maps obtained in this manner does not require quest achievement completion for the Draenor zone.

Level 90-94 gold and Garrison Resource missions will now continue to appear even if there are no Followers that are level 90-94.

Scavenger trait for Followers now increases Garrison Resources gained from a mission by 100% (down from 200%).

Follower Mission UI Improvements

List of missions available now displays the amount of bonus XP, gold, and resources awarded without having to mouse-over the mission tooltip.

Improved tooltips displaying which followers that can counter threats on a mission.

Followers that can counter a threat and available show up with a green checkmark.

Followers that can counter a threat but are out on a mission displays the time remaining until the follower is available.

Followers that can counter a threat but assigned to a building will display a working icon.

A new icon will notify the player when assigning a follower that'll receive less XP reward because they're below level or item level requirements.Garrisons with 10 or more followers now have access to a sortable list with a quick overview of how many followers can counter a particular threat or how long a follower will be out on a mission.

Garrison Buildings

Garrison Work Order Changes

Work orders now check if a follower is assigned to the building every 4 hours when factoring in production bonuses.

Followers assigned to work at a building now receive XP for each work order that they provide a production bonus on.

Players now have an option to queue up all remaining work order slots through the building's work order UI.

NPCs that accept Work Orders are now titled as such along with a new interaction cursor to make them easier to locate.

Miner's Coffee no longer has a stack limit, is now bind on pickup, and has a sell price. It now has an exclusive category so it cannot be applied multiple times by splitting it into different stacks. However, the aura can now correctly stack up to 5 times.

Tier-3 salvage recovered from Follower missions no longer has an independent chance to drop an uncommon (green), rare (blue), or epic (purple) item and will instead always drop one of them. This change is intended to reduce overall item spam without affecting their value. Existing chance for Tier-3 salvage to potentially also contain an uncommon Tier-2 salvage item remains unchanged.

Follower Weaponry and Armor Set tokens (War Ravaged, Blackrock, Goredrenched) no longer drops from salvage. Weapon and Armor enhancement tokens that can upgrade a Follower's weapon or armor item levels will continue to have a chance to drop from Salvage Crates.

Town Hall

The fireplace in Tier-2 and Tier-3 Alliance Garrison Town Halls can now be used as a cooking fire.

Players that have performed above-and-beyond expectations for a Gold rating while defending their Garrisons from an invasion can now attain a Platinum rating. Platinum rating awards a level 660 item and a chance at obtaining an item that can be used to summon a raid or world boss.

Cosmetic Transformations and Toy Effects

Improvements have been made to the way that cosmetic transformations are handled. Previously, using another transformation would overwrite or cancel an existing effect. Now, characters can retain multiple cosmetic transformations and the one with the highest priority will be visible. If a higher priority transformation is canceled or expires, the next highest priority transformation will then be visible.

Cosmetic transformation effects that don't have mount animations and previously prevented a character from mounting (or were canceled upon mounting) are no longer canceled or need to be canceled or prevent mounting. Instead, the transform is temporarily suppressed and the character will regain the transformation once they dismount.

Cosmetic transformations that alter the character's appearance now have a higher priority than Druid combat forms. This means Druids can keep a transformation while shapeshifted.

Many Druid shapeshift forms now have attachment points on the head and back for cosmetic toy effects such as Blazing Wings or Pepe. Additional shapeshift forms may receive attachment points in the future.

To retain and improve readability in rated PvP environments, cosmetic transformations are now suppressed for all classes while inside a rated PvP environment (Arenas or Rated Battlegrounds).

General

Accounts with an inactive subscription are now able to log in with the same restrictions that Starter Edition accounts have with the additional perk of being able to join guilds that characters on the account already are a member of.

New Graphics Options

Particle Density in graphics settings now have 3 detail levels (down from 5). This may affect the number of particles generated by some particle systems.

MSAA is once again supported, with additional controls for fine-tuning under Advanced graphics options.

A new SSAA anti-aliasing option is now available for high-end video cards.

New Lighting

Per-pixel deferred point lights have been added to create more realistic lighting throughout Draenor.

Itemization

Tertiary Stats for Avoidance, Speed, and Leach now provide about four times as much benefit per stat point.

All rings, neck, cloak, and trinket items that can be acquired in Nagrand (A level 98+ zone) or later should now be better suited for the character's loot specialization. This means tanks should no longer receive items with no bonus Armor and healers should no longer receive items with no Spirit from sources like item tokens, quests or Personal loot mode in Dungeons and Raids for those item slots.

Stoneform when used, now triggers a 30-second shared cooldown with other PvP trinkets that breaks crowd-control effects.

Class Changes Talent BalanceDeveloper Commentary: A primary focus for class changes in Patch 6.1 is improving overall talent balance. Not every talent needs to be useful in every situation; and in fact it's often better if they have strengths and weaknesses. But we do try to have each talent be useful in some situations, and make them close enough in value that if you really enjoy the gameplay of a talent you don't feel like you're dragging your group down by using it.For these changes we focused primarily on tuning (tweaking numbers), and nearly all changes are buffs to underperforming talents. The goal is to reach more variety of viable builds, without bringing down the existing popular choices.

Ring of Peace now incapacitates all enemies for 5 seconds (up from 3 seconds).

Zen Sphere has been improved. Its detonation damage has increased by 97%, detonation healing has increased by 70%, but periodic healing has been reduced by 39%. Also fixed a bug that caused its damage and healing to vary based on specialization.

Cascade may now hit the same target twice. This results in an increase to total healing, so its healing has been reduced by 35% to compensate (the total healing in a 20-player raid will be slightly higher than before).

Halo now displays an indicator on the ground to make it easier for the casting Priest see where the ability is most effective. Additionally, Halo's visual effect has been synchronized so a character will receive the effect when the nova intersects with them.

Psychic Scream (Shadow) now has a 30-second cooldown (up from 45 seconds).

Saving Grace's (Discipline, Holy) healing has increased by 50%, but now reduces future healing dealt by 15% (up from 10%). Additionally, the talent is now instant-cast, but its effectiveness is reduced while in PvP combat.

Healer DamageDeveloper Commentary: Another change being made for Patch 6.1 is to bring the damage potential of healers up to a level that is sufficient and balanced. Healers' damage potential will still pale compared to that of a dedicated damage dealer or tank, but it should no longer feel like you're totally ineffective when attempting to do some outdoor content.

PvP 4-piece set bonus for Holy Paladins has been redesigned. Eternal Flame or Word of Glory now also reduces damage taken by the target by 5% for each Holy Power consumed (maximum of 15%) for 6 seconds. This effect only works in PvP combat.

Frozen Power should no longer cause Frost Shock to trigger a new Mastery: Molten Earth (Elemental). Note that this does not stop Molten Earth effects that are already in progress or in the process of being triggered.

Tier-17 4-piece bonus for Elemental Shaman now requires the Shaman to consume 12 18Lightning Shield charges to trigger (down up from 15 charges).

PvP 2-piece set bonus for Restoration Shaman now grants 975 Versatility after dispelling a harmful Magic or Curse effect from an ally (up from 780 Versatility).

PvP 4-piece set bonus for Restoration Shaman now triggers when the target of Earth Shield drops below 50% health (up from 35%) and Earth Shield will immediately consume up to 4 charges (up from 3 charges).

Players in a raid group will once again no longer be eligible for quest credit, except for specially-designated Raid quests. We are continuing to explore ways of allowing players who want to engage in solo or small-group questing while in a raid group (for example, while waiting for a Highmaul raid to form, or in a Rated Battleground queue), without also allowing raid groups to trivially complete quests that were never designed with groups of that size in mind.

Legendary Ring Quest Line

A new epic follower awaits those that complete the latest chapter in the Legendary Ring Quest Line!

Characters can now select the version of the ring they want to receive when completing a step of the Legendary Ring Quest Line that provides an upgrade.

Improved the logic used for connecting flight paths. Players are now able to fly through flight points that they have not discovered yet if it'll result in a more direct flight path to a destination point.

A button has been added for characters in the middle of a flight to get off at the next known flight point.

Added two mailboxes in around the Black Market near Ring Of Blood in Nagrand.

The Darkmoon Faire have added an exciting new racing event with opportunities to obtain new unique prizes!

New achievements and rewards have been added to the Darkmoon Tonk Challenge and Darkmoon Ring Toss.

Creatures and NPCs

Khadgar has decided to dismiss his remarkably realistic mirror images from capital cities across the land. Adventurers answering his summons and seeking to enter Draenor may once again only find him near the Dark Portal in Blasted Lands.

Grand Marshal Tremblade or High Warlord Volrath now offers scrolls of Enchant Illusion – Glorious Tyranny and Enchant Illusion – Primal Victory to players with a rating of 2400 or higher in Rated Battlegrounds, and 3v3 or 5v5 Arenas.

Flask of Conquest has been added as a potential drop from Strongboxes awarded at the end of a Rated Battleground match. The flask increases Conquest Point gains from Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds by 25% for 2 hours and the effect persists through death. The flask does not affect the character's Conquest cap and the drop chance is in addition to the existing chance for Strongboxes to contain Conquest Points.

Rewards are now correctly distributed based on the PvP level bracket.

Primal Gladiator's and Primal Combatant's Badges now have a 2-minute cooldown (up from 1 minute).

Apexis Crystal vendors have been reorganized with their titles now denoting what it is that they're selling.

Toybox

Blazing Wings effect now lasts for 15 minutes (down from 1 hour) with a 30-minute cooldown (down from 1 hour).

Piccolo of the Flaming Fire has been rebuilt into a Toybox item. Players can channel for 30 seconds to cause those around them to dance with a 5-minute cooldown. Additionally, the effect will no longer interrupt eating or drinking.

Characters now receive a treasure maps in the mail for completing storyline achievements for a Draenor region.Griftah now sells a variety of transmogrification items for Dingy Iron Coins. In addition, he now sells a Rogue-specific toy, Barrel of Bandanas. Barrel of Bandanas spawns a barrel that gives players that use it a random visual bandana buff for 30 minutes. Season 1 PvP boots and belts sold by Kezzik at Area 52 in Netherstorm are now more comparably priced to their other Season 1 counterparts (1750 Honor). Replica belts for Blood Guard and Knight-Lieutenant have been added to complete visual sets that were previously incomplete for transmogrification. These new items are sold by the vendors who sell the rest of the set, Tini Smalls and Krixel Pinchwhistle at Area 52 in Netherstorm. All Brawler's Guild shirts are now unique. Replacement Brawler's Guild shirts can be purchased from Quackenbrush or Paul North if the character has defeated a boss that awarded it. Several trinkets obtained from Draenor rares are now able to be disenchanted (previously, the items could not be disenchanted).A number of Main Hand weapons have been converted to One-Hand so they'll work better with transmogrification.

Players can now access a new suite of colorblind filter options under Accessiblity settings in the Interface menu.

New Death Recap Screen

When a character is killed, a new screen now shows more information on what killed you.

Premade Group leaders can now automatically accept applicants via a new "Auto Accept" checkbox after the group has been listed. Improved the ordering for categories in the currency tab.Loot eligibility lockouts for Draenor world bosses (Drov the Ruiner, Tarlna the Ageless, and Rukhmar) are now tracked in Raid Info under the Raid tab. Popup notifications such as those for completing an achievement or receiving a reward after a Battleground match can now be dismissed by right-clicking on it. Added an "Ignore this bag" option to Profession bags for bag clean up. All multi-page windows now supports mousewheel scrolling.

New Models

It's interesting to note that Mystic Runesaber is the first shop mount that can't fly, as seen in the buff Mystic Runesaber. However, this model comes with some very striking flying animations. Click on the images below to view them in our 3D modelviewer.

Classes

Breath of Sindragosa:Frost, Unholy:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Blood:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards, and affects them with Mark of Sindragosa for 6 sec Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Mark of Sindragosa causes you to be healed for 10% of spell damage dealt by afflicted enemies.Blood:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards, and affects them with Mark of Sindragosa for 6 sec. Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Mark of Sindragosa causes you to be healed for 10% of spell damage dealt by afflicted enemies.

Defile:Frost, Unholy:Defiles the ground targeted by the Death Knight. Every 1 sec, if there are any enemies standing in the Defile, it deals (33.3% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage to them, and grows in radius and damage by 2.5%. Enemies standing in your Defile deal 10% less damage to you.Replaces Death and Decay.

Necrotic Plague:Frost, Unholy:A powerful disease that deals (3.2% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage per stack every 2 sec for 30 sec. Each time it deals damage, it gains 1 stack, and infects another nearby enemy within 8 yards if possible. You gain 2 Runic Power whenever a target infected with Necrotic Plague attempts to attack you.Replaces Blood Plague and Frost Fever, and is applied by any ability which applied either. This effect cannot be refreshed; it gains 1 stack instead.

Prayer of Mending: Places a spell on a party or raid member that heals them for the next time they take damage. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a party or raid member within 20 yards. Jumps up to 105 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump.

NPC Abilities

This section has not been analyzed extensively by our team but is included for people interested in seeing what has changed in these areas.View changes

Necrotic Plague:Frost, Unholy:A powerful disease that deals (3.2% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage per stack every 2 sec for 30 sec. Each time it deals damage, it gains 1 stack, and infects another nearby enemy within 8 yards if possible. You gain 2 Runic Power whenever a target infected with Necrotic Plague attempts to attack you.Replaces Blood Plague and Frost Fever, and is applied by any ability which applied either. This effect cannot be refreshed; it gains 1 stack instead.

Prayer of Mending: Places a spell on a party or raid member that heals them for the next time they take damage. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a party or raid member within 20 yards. Jumps up to 105 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump.

Breath of Sindragosa:Frost, Unholy:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Blood:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards, and affects them with Mark of Sindragosa for 6 sec Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Mark of Sindragosa causes you to be healed for 10% of spell damage dealt by afflicted enemies.Blood:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards, and affects them with Mark of Sindragosa for 6 sec. Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Mark of Sindragosa causes you to be healed for 10% of spell damage dealt by afflicted enemies.

Crippling Suplex: Picks up an enemy and smashes them against his highest threat target, dealing 100 Physical damage.Physical damage equal to the maximum health of the picked up enemy.

Defile:Frost, Unholy:Defiles the ground targeted by the Death Knight. Every 1 sec, if there are any enemies standing in the Defile, it deals (33.3% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage to them, and grows in radius and damage by 2.5%. Enemies standing in your Defile deal 10% less damage to you.Replaces Death and Decay.

Defile: Defiles the ground targeted by the Death Knight. Every 1 sec, if there are any enemies standing in the Defile, it deals (33.3% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage to them, and grows in radius and damage by 2.5%. EnemiesBloodEnemies standing in your Defile deal 10% less damage to you.Replaces Death and Decay.

Defile:Frost, Unholy:Defiles the ground targeted by the Death Knight. Every 1 sec, if there are any enemies standing in the Defile, it deals (33.3% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage to them, and grows in radius and damage by 2.5%. Enemies standing in your Defile deal 10% less damage to you.Replaces Death and Decay.

Hammer of Wrath:Holy, Protection:Hurls a magical hammer that strikes an enemy for (200%240% of Spell power) Holy damage Only usable on enemies that have 35% or less healthRetribution:Hurls a magical hammer that strikes an enemy for (200%240% of Spell power) Holy damage and generates a charge of Holy Power Only usable on enemies that have 35% or less health or during Avenging Wrath

Mark of Sindragosa:Frost, Unholy:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Blood:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards, and affects them with Mark of Sindragosa for 6 sec Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Mark of Sindragosa causes you to be healed for 10% of spell damage dealt by afflicted enemies.Blood:Continuously deals (100% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage every 1 sec to enemies in a cone in front of you within 12 yards, and affects them with Mark of Sindragosa for 6 sec. Deals reduced damage to secondary targets. You will continue breathing until cancelled or Runic Power is exhausted.Mark of Sindragosa causes you to be healed for 10% of spell damage dealt by afflicted enemies.

Massive Shattering Smash: The Massive Shattering Smash inflicts 548437 to 576563 Fire damage instantly and an additional 87750 to 92250 Fire damage every 1 split evenly among all targets within 6 yards, knocking the targets back and creating a Slag Crater.Blackhand will gain Energy if fewer than 4 enemies are hit.

Necrotic Plague: A powerful disease that deals (3.2% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage per stack every 2 sec for 30 sec. Each time it deals damage, it gains 1 stack, and infects another nearby enemy within 8 yards if possible. YouBloodYou gain 2 Runic Power whenever a target infected with Necrotic Plague attempts to attack you.Replaces Blood Plague and Frost Fever, and is applied by any ability which applied either. This effect cannot be refreshed; it gains 1 stack instead.

Necrotic Plague: A powerful disease that deals (3.2% of Attack power) Shadowfrost damage per stack every 2 sec for 30 sec. Each time it deals damage, it gains 1 stack, and infects another nearby enemy within 8 yards if possible. YouBloodYou gain 2 Runic Power whenever a target infected with Necrotic Plague attempts to attack you.Replaces Blood Plague and Frost Fever, and is applied by any ability which applied either. This effect cannot be refreshed; it gains 1 stack instead.

Prayer of Mending: Places a spell on a party or raid member that heals them for the next time they take damage. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a party or raid member within 20 yards. Jumps up to 105 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump.

Prayer of Mending: Places a spell on a party or raid member that heals them for the next time they take damage. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a party or raid member within 20 yards. Jumps up to 105 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump.

Prayer of Mending: Places a spell on a party or raid member that heals them for the next time they take damage. When the heal occurs, Prayer of Mending jumps to a party or raid member within 20 yards. Jumps up to 105 times and lasts 30 sec after each jump.

Eye of the Storm: Fixed an issue where Horde players were unable to capture the flag at Mage Tower.

Blue Tweets

Blizzard's @WarcraftDevs account has been quite active answering questions on Twitter recently. We've highlighted the important ones below and you can parse all the Blizzard employee tweets and filter for the important ones over at our Blue Tweet Tracker.

In today's news, we have a short round of Blackrock Foundry fixes for February 5th hotfixes, pictures of the filters on the PTR, details on the Activision Blizzard Q4 earnings report, and info on a special Blackrock Foundry quest.

Players should now only receive a single debuff that refreshes when running through Blazes created by Siegemaker Mortar attacks.

Resolved an issue that could cause some Hunters or Warlocks to suffer fatal falling damage during the transition to Stage Three: Iron Crucible.

Battlegrounds and Arenas

Faction flags should no longer appear for players in an Arena or Arena Skirmish match.

Activision Blizzard Q4 2014 Earnings Report

Activision Blizzard released their Q4 2014 Earnings Report today, which you can fully read here. As we reported on in November 2014, World of Warcraft subscribers were over 10 million in Q4 due to the launch of Warlords of Draenor.

No additional numbers were given in the earnings report--in fact, they're vaguer than usual for a report--but it was announced that Hearthstone hit 25 million players. Numbers usually decline over the course of an expansion, and we'll have to see how successful the staggered launch of Tier 17 raiding and Garrisons keeps people hooked.

Goraluk Anvilcrack starts the quest. He is found at 87.3, 50.2 inside Blackrock Foundry, just south of the Iron Maidens.

Completing the quest on a higher difficulty also unlocks the Blackhand skip on lower difficulties.

Selfie Filters

A hot topic on the 6.1 PTR is selfies, with the , , items and achievement. The epic toy is available from a randomly-selected mission and we've finally been able to preview it thanks to user JorgeAntonioDS!

The upgraded comes with three filters:

: Enables a sketch filter for your S.E.L.F.I.E. Camera.

: Enables a black & white filter for your S.E.L.F.I.E. Camera.

: Enables a death filter for your S.E.L.F.I.E. Camera.

Below we have pictures of the camera UI as well as your screen affected by the filters:

Mystic Runesaber is confirmed to be an in-game shop mount. The flavor text is "Infused with arcane power, the Mystic Runesaber has long been hidden by chaotic nether energies. Recently they have emerged from the shadows in search of ley lines to sate their thirst for magic."

Hogs makes a return in the data, although rumors that it was retroactively granted to Tarren Mill vs Southshore Victors was debunked by Bashiok.

Bashiok

It's old data. The "Hogs" mini-Hogger pet is not a reward from that achievement, and we'll correct it in the next PTR build. We haven't determined yet if/when he'll be obtainable, or from what source.

Twitter Integration is Live

Twitter integration is live in the latest PTR build. From our testing so far, things like earning an achievement, taking a screenshot, or looting an item prompt the appearance of a share icon in chat, which you click to share.

You can Enable/Disable social media under Interface > Social.

Here are some sample tweets:

Twitter Glue Strings

These hint at all the possible Twitter options:

SOCIAL_ITEM_PREFILL_TEXT_EARNED:: Check out this item I just got!SOCIAL_ITEM_PREFILL_TOOLTIP:: Add Last Item DropSOCIAL_TWITTER_THROTTLE_TOOLTIP:: The number of tweets that can be sent is limited, please wait to send another tweet.SOCIAL_TWITTER_STATUS_NOT_CONNECTED:: Not ConnectedSOCIAL_ENABLE_TWITTER_FUNCTIONALITY:: Enable Twitter FunctionalitySOCIAL_SCREENSHOT_REMOVE_BUTTON:: Remove ScreenshotSOCIAL_ACHIEVEMENT_PREFILL_TEXT_GENERIC:: Check out this Achievement! %s #WarcraftSOCIAL_SCREENSHOT_PREFILL_TOOLTIP:: Add Latest ScreenshotSOCIAL_SCREENSHOT_CROP_BUTTON:: CropSOCIAL_TWITTER_TWEET_NOT_LINKED:: Tweet Failed: account not linkedSOCIAL_TWITTER_POST_TITLE:: TweetSOCIAL_TWITTER_STATUS_CONNECTED:: Connected:SOCIAL_TWITTER_COMPOSE_NEW_TWEET:: Compose a new tweetSOCIAL_TWITTER_TWEET_SENT:: Tweet SentSOCIAL_TWITTER_TWEET_SENDING:: Sending tweet. This may take a few seconds.SOCIAL_TWITTER_TWEET_FAILED:: Tweet FailedSOCIAL_TWITTER_CONNECT_SUCCESS_MESSAGE:: Twitter Account ConnectedSOCIAL_SHARE_TEXT:: ShareSOCIAL_SCREENSHOT_PREFILL_TEXT:: Check out my screenshot from World of #Warcraft!SOCIAL_SCREENSHOT_PREFILL_NONE:: No screenshot takenSOCIAL_ITEM_PREFILL_TEXT_GENERIC:: Check out this item!SOCIAL_ITEM_PREFILL_NONE:: No item receivedSOCIAL_ACHIEVEMENT_PREFILL_TEXT_EARNED:: I just earned the %s Achievement! #WarcraftSOCIAL_TWITTER_CONNECT_FAIL_MESSAGE:: Twitter Connection FailedSOCIAL_TWITTER_SIGN_IN:: Sign InSOCIAL_ACHIEVEMENT_PREFILL_NONE:: No achievement earnedSOCIAL_ACHIEVEMENT_PREFILL_TOOLTIP:: Add Latest AchievementSOCIAL_ACHIEVEMENT_REMOVE_BUTTON:: Remove AchievementSOCIAL_TWITTER_DISCONNECT:: Disconnect

Build Highlights

New achievements for collecting heirlooms, including Heirloom Hoarder which rewards the Chauffeured Chopper mount which is usable by lvl 1 players. The mount journal text, as seen on Summon Chauffeur, is "Why drive yourself around when you can hire someone to do it for you?" and Koak Hoburn is the driver! The 6.1 PTR notes stated that the mount would require all heirlooms collected, but Heirloom Hoarder is just for 35 which is a bit easier.

While the new blood elf models are the highlight of this 6.1 PTR build, there are several other developments we tested when the realms came back up. We snapped some pictures with S.E.L.F.I.E. Camera, built the jukebox in game and previewed all the sound tracks, and found a tribute to the 2014 BlizzCon Costume Contest winner, Grand Empress Pydarter.